Talk:Mad Max: Fury Road/@comment-193.1.184.237-20150422153413
As a fan of the first 3, I am really looking forward to the new Mad Max. From what I gather, this does seem to be an update on the second film (which also provided the bones of the third one as well). I am confused to whether it is a reboot akin to the James Bond film Casino Royale or not. I think it will somehow be up to the audience to decide. Certainly, I would think if it is not a reboot, then it happens definitely before the third film (remember, all conventional cars and fuel is gone by this time) and perhaps even before the second. It definitely is after the first one. The Mad Max films had a bigger and bigger budget as they went along. The first showed how a great film can be made with virtually little resources. The second had a much bigger budget and the third was a Hollywood film as is this one. So far, each film has shown a different messge and all combined both violence with gentler situations very well. We are well established with regard to the Mad Max story. A war started in the Middle East not unlike real world conflicts we saw like the Iraq wars of 1991 and 2003-date, the Iran Iraq war of the 1980s, the ongoing Afghan wars from 1979 to date, the Libya war of 2011-date and so on. This then dragged in superpowers, ruined the world's economy, caused the end of a plentiful supply of oil and ultimately lead to a nuclear war. Law and order broke down, and drug crazed bikers took hold. Max was a good cop, dedicated to making the roads safer but his family is targetted in revenge for Max's successful elimination of some of the worst bikers. Max is the star cop and recognised by his boss as hope. But Max loses all hope himself after his family are murdered. He still continues as a cop for one last mission: avenging his wife's murder. He kills all the bikers who were responsible. Max then drifts out into an increasingly lawless world and scavanges to survive. He encounteres groups who want to flee even more savage bikers in the second film and (even though deeply depressed) his sense of doing the right thing prevails and he successfully helps a community to get to a better place while defeating another crazy biker gang. In the third film, he does the same thing: lead into a barter community in pursuit of stolen goods, he accepts to help one side of the community in a dispute with the other side. He has to kill a superstrong man and refuses to when he finds out he is retared. Max is caste out and near death discovered by a group of children and young adults. They believe he is a god but Max helps them to get again to a better place while clashing again with those from the community who imprison a small man with lots of knowledge. Ironically, his ally is the thief who store his original goods! Max's world has gone from a normal family life to a lone desert wanderer. He has aided many in his travels and has collected numerous useful items. But if Max collected items on a small scale for himself, I think the new film is all about a rich and powerful elite siphoning away resources for themselves. The first film showed lawless thieves who were also probably drug dealers who wandered from town to town to scare people and get what they needed (mostly fuel). The second film showed similar with such gangs dominating much more. Again, control of fuel was their aim. The third film showed a community that greated a new fuel source and invented a new culture of civilsation that was both innovative and legally harsh. The new film I feel is about a group who decided at the outset of the apocalypse to secure resources for themselves. Water rather than fuel seems to be the key resource from what the trailers show but, being Mad Max, fuel just has to be in the equation too! I always wondered what the likes of Labatouche, the well dressed rich billionaire type who seemed to be the head of the MFP as well, did after the first film. He would be connected and would set up a fortress with all resources needed for the rest of his life for sure. Perhaps, it is this type of elite Max is up against this time around. The first 3 films had Max pitted against those who had nothing who had filled a void to aspire to be the rulers of a place (the first 2) and those who built their way from nothing to a new civilisation (the third). But absent from all 3 films were what the upper classes did (a class with the power to set up a new system to weather the storm). We saw what the apocalypse did to the middle classes (Max), to oil company directors who lost all (Papagallo), to the poor who survived (Aunty Entity) and to the poor criminal society (the bikers): all in all, life was a constant battle for all. BUT we are not given any storyline for the rich and powerful who were in position to protect their interests. I think this is where this film comes in.